Broadmead Lower School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Broadmead Lower School is a positive and welcoming place for pupils.

Pupils enjoy the warm, nurturing relationships they have with staff. Pupils' parents recognise how these relationships ensure their children feel happy to come to school.

Pupils feel safe in school.

Pupils know that if bullying occurs, teachers will act quickly to stop it. Pupils feel confident about going to staff if they have any worries about school or home.

Pupils behave well in lessons because they enjoy their learning and want to focus on it.

They also behave well around school and at lunchtimes. Pupils are clear about lunchtime routines like tidying up the play equip...ment and involving pupils who are lonely in their games. Pupils understand how such routines link to the school rules 'be ready, be respectful, be safe'.

Pupils feel that the school rules, rewards and sanctions are fair.

Pupils enjoy the range of extra-curricular activities available. This includes sports such as athletics, dodgeball, football and street dance.

Pupils also appreciate the many visits that staff organise, including residential trips. Pupils particularly enjoyed the recent residential visit as it gave them the opportunity to develop their independence.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders are ambitious for the pupils.

They have high expectations for themselves and the staff. The curriculum is designed to build up pupils' knowledge and skills over time. There is high-quality training for staff.

The training works to embed consistent, agreed approaches to teach different subjects well.

The curriculum for the early years is very detailed. Its careful sequence takes into account children's different starting points.

It provides opportunities for the children to play, be creative and think critically. Pupils in the early years enjoy phonics lessons and reading with adults. As a result, children make strong progress from their starting points.

Teachers use their subject knowledge to explain ideas and address misconceptions. They adapt how they teach pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) so that they meet their needs. Pupils make clear connections between previous and current learning.

They can explain what they have learned using technical vocabulary. For example, pupils were confident using terms such as 'vibration' when discussing what they learned about sound in science lessons.

Teachers ensure that there are regular assessments of pupils.

This helps teachers to know what pupils know or can do. Teachers do not always use this assessment information well enough. They do not adapt the curriculum well for a few pupils that are ready to move on.

As a result, these pupils do not gain as deep an understanding of some areas of the curriculum as they could.

The school prioritises reading. Staff want all pupils to be fluent readers by the time they finish Year 4.

This includes disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. The reading curriculum develops in a structured, incremental fashion starting in Reception. It allows pupils to progress from mastering the sounds letters make to developing comprehension skills.

Staff carefully assess pupils' reading to check what they have learned. Skilful questioning by staff allows them to probe what pupils understand about the texts they read.

Leaders have created a strong SEND provision.

They have updated systems and processes for identifying individual needs. This includes breaking down information from professionals into support plans. These plans are easy for teachers to use in their day-to-day teaching.

Leaders celebrate a pupil's progress with their parents, as well as using meetings to plan a pupil's next steps.

The school has high expectations of behaviour. Pupils' attitudes to learning are very positive and low-level disruption is rare.

The school has a calm and respectful atmosphere.

Pupils' personal development is well promoted. Pupils enjoy learning about faiths such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

They liked going on a faith tour of a mosque, a gurdwara and a church in a local town.

The success of governance varies. It relies on individual governors having the expertise to check the areas they oversee.

Governors do not always request the detail they would need from school leaders around behaviour and attendance. This does not allow them to check and challenge all aspects of the school well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have created a strong culture for safeguarding. Staff are vigilant. They confidently use the clear systems for identifying pupils who are at risk and recording concerns.

Leaders act quickly and work closely with external agencies. This helps vulnerable pupils to get the support they need. Leaders ensure that appropriate checks occur before an adult works at the school.

Pupils are safe. The 'angry, sad or worried' caterpillars in classrooms allow them to share their feelings with adults. The curriculum helps pupils to learn how to manage risk, such as what information to keep private during computing.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Teachers do not use the assessment information they have well enough to move some pupils on quickly enough. This is because they have not had the training to know what to do next once pupils grasp a concept or skill. Leaders need to ensure that teachers are trained to know when to adapt teaching and move pupils on.

• Governors do not actively request all the information they need from school leaders around behaviour and attendance. Consequently, they rely on school leaders to pinpoint successes and possible issues, as opposed to playing an active role in rigorous evaluation themselves. Governors should ensure they have the training and systems in place to support them in checking, challenging and celebrating all aspects of the school accurately and confidently.

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